SURREY County Council has backed down over plans to axe buses that take thousands of children to and from school everyday, this year.

On Tuesday the council agreed to postpone any cuts to the School Special bus service for a year to allow for more consultation with teachers and parents.

However as a result the cuts, which had been scheduled to happen in three staggered phases in 2010, 2011 and 2012, will all happen at once in September 2011.

The county council had come under fire after it gave parents only one month’s consultation to get their views on the cuts.

Headteachers and parents had also roundly condemned the plans, which could include the loss of four buses carrying students at Collingwood College on the Old Dean, Camberley.

The school’s headteacher, Jerry Oddie, said the plans would leave hundreds students adrift and punish less well off parents who didn’t have cars. He also said the plans to cut school buses made a mockery of the council’s green agenda as it would force hundreds of extra cars onto the road.

However, Mr Oddie welcomed the council’s move to postpone the cuts as a victory for common sense.

“Whilst we understand the county council is in desperate need of savings this moratorium gives us plenty of time to have a discussion about alternative measures,” he said.

“It is a triumph of common sense.”

Surrey County Council is currently looking to make swingeing cuts to its transport budget, under which the School Special service comes.

The service makes up around 10% of the council’s overall £11 million transport annual budget.

Under measures agreed last year council transport bosses had planned to scrap scores of school bus routes across the county over the next three years.

The first closures were due to come into effect this September.

The numbers 83, 84, 85 and 87 buses, which around 300 Collingwood students from as far a field as Mytchett, Ash and Chobham use, had been earmarked for closure in September 2011.

However, the county council has one sheathed the axe the time being, and still looks set to wield it on the bus service next year.

But the coming months give parents and schools a chance to let the council know how important the service is in their area.

Cllr Ian Lake, the Conservative portfolio holder for transport, said the decision had been made to hold one long consultation over all the proposed cuts after the feedback the council got from parents last month.

He said schools had complained that staggering consultation was unfair, as once councillors agreed the one phase of cuts they would not be able to reject another.

Cllr Lake said: “We listened to some of the comments regarding the last consultation and we think it is only fair to extend the consultation.”

He added that the extra time could also be used to work with schools to find alternative transport and ways to mitigate the impact if they were to lose the bus service.

The move was welcomed by Surrey Heath Tory MP Michael Gove, who is also Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.

He said MPs across Surrey had words with county council over the plans that had upset many of their constituents.

“I understand the view of the county council, but I also understand the strength of feeling,” he said. “I think that it is the wrong way to go.”